


Quidditch and Forbidden Sleepovers

by Number_1_Momo_Stan



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), dan and phil
Genre: A lot - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Dan Howell Swears, Dorks in Love, Friends to Lovers, Gryffindor Dan Howell, Hufflepuff Phil Lester, I honestly have no idea what the timeline is, Like, M/M, Patronuses, Quidditch Matches, SO MUCH FLUFF, end me, forbidden sleepovers, i love them, nose kisses, sorry - Freeform, they're in the same year in this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-09-07 18:50:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20314312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Number_1_Momo_Stan/pseuds/Number_1_Momo_Stan
Summary: Dan has been friends with Phil since the day they first met on the train to Hogwarts. Which is why he doesn't really know what to do when he realises he's not exactly satisfied as... just friends.orThe one where Dan navigates through his fourth year at Hogwarts with a force stronger than any spell he's ever been taught- denial.





	1. Chapter 1

Dan was having a crisis. It had to be some kind of warning sign- running into Phil at King's Cross Station and being rendered so totally speechless. Normally, Dan spent the majority of his summer holidays with Phil and his family (his parents never protested, and Dan often wondered if they would even notice if one holiday he just never came back from Phil's house. Phil's answer was always 'of course they would, silly' but there were many nights Dan lay awake and dreamt about graduating from Hogwarts and moving in with Phil. Just two best friends rooming together.) That particular summer, however, his parents had taken him to stay with his grandparents, which he had enjoyed, but he'd really missed Phil. Anyways, he had run into Phil at the station- well, into Phil's back, really- and as Phil turned around, he physically felt his heart drop into his dirty red trainers.   
Dan had realised he was gay in Third Year, and it wasn't like he'd seen a particularly cute boy and felt everything click into place at once, easy-peasy. It had been bothering him for weeks, until one day, he and Phil were studying, and Dan was acting snappy and irritable because he hadn't been able to sleep with how much he was stressing about this. When Phil tried to find out what was wrong, Dan had blown up at him, and said some things to Phil that he still hadn't forgiven himself for. Dan would never forget the way Phil's eyes had filled with tears, and he had frantically apologised, and Phil had told him it was alright, but avoided Dan like the plague for the rest of the week, until Dan dragged him into a closet after class one day and just broke down. Phil had held him, and told him it was going to be alright. He had managed to stop crying long enough to tell Phil he was gay, and watched as Phil stared at him, unable to think of anything to say. Eventually though, he told Dan that it didn't change anything, and then he called Dan an idiot for thinking he would judge him for it, and Dan cried even harder. Since then, he hadn't actually taken the time to notice any boys, as he kept himself quite busy with his schoolwork. Until today. Because holy shit, in the two and a half months they had been away from each other, Phil had gotten hot. Like, _really _hot. Phil's face broke into a huge smile that damn near took Dan's breath away.   
"Dan! I missed you!"   
Oh god.   
"Your voice," Dan croaked. Phil frowned.   
"What about it?" He asked, and Dan quickly snapped out of his brief gay panic session.   
"Nothing," he said, trying to sound more casual than he actually felt. "It's just deeper." And rougher. And huskier. Fuck.   
Phil stared at him for a second before giving an undignified snort and pushing Dan lightly.   
"Okay, whatever." He took a step back, and raked his eyes up and down Dan's figure. Dan turned bright pink under his gaze, and managed to squeak out a pathetic, "what are you doing?"   
Phil looked up to meet Dan's eyes.   
"You've changed too! Not your voice, but you're definitely a bit taller. And your hair is a darker shade of brown- and it's longer! Wait, are you trying to grow a mullet or something?"   
"I beg your pardon, of course not. What exactly do you take me for? And... I missed you too, by the way."  
Yeah- that entire exchange should have been some kind of signal that Dan was truly, deeply fucked. They clambered into one of the carriages, Phil keeping up an endless stream of chatter, which was just fine with Dan- he was able to sit back and just listen; he was immeasurably grateful when PJ and Chris burst in, yelling out hellos and their own stories about their holidays. He felt a little less grateful when PJ nudged him and murmured,   
"Can't believe you haven't broken into hives or anything."  
"What do you mean?" he scowled.   
"I _mean, _look at him! You have to have had a gay crisis of some sort by now."   
Dan rolled his eyes. He was out to PJ and Chris, but he had managed to relate it to them less dramatically than he had to Phil. They didn't care either, but it was only recently that PJ had started remembering how Dan acted around Phil; how he still acted around Phil, really. His inability to say more than ten words at a time to Phil was probably giving him the totally wrong idea. Because whatever PJ was implying was wrong. He didn't have a crush. In fact, it was kind of the opposite, he told himself. He didn't even really like Phil that much. He always stole Dan's secret chocolate frog stash, and never even bothered to learn the quidditch rules (though he seemed perfectly content listening to Dan ramble on about it).   
"Whatever it is you're implying, get it out of your head right now," he hissed to PJ. "This is an important year for us, Fourth Year is when we take our NEWTS, and I need to focus- I don't need you to be running your mouth about this all the time when I'm trying to study, got it?"   
"Uhh..."   
Dan flushed and turned to see Chris and Phil, sitting opposite to them, looking confused.   
"What's PJ running his mouth off about?" Phil asked, sounding amused.   
"What isn't he?" Dan muttered, slumping further into his seat. The answer seemed to satisfy Chris, who turned away and continued whatever story he was telling to PJ. Phil looked at Dan quizzically for a few more minutes, before re-joining the conversation. Dan continued to sulk for a bit, before deciding to drop it, and entered the conversation too.  
By the time they reached Hogwarts, he was almost giddy with excitement- he really did enjoy going back to school, a sentence he didn't think he'd be able to say four years ago, when he was still in muggle school. Phil was always asking him about it, and seemed a little disappointed when Dan told him it was literal hell on earth. Phil was a halfblood, but had never been to muggle school, and he had been raised almost as a pureblood. Dan, being a muggleborn, was amazed at Phil's house, which seemed to practically function on magic, unlike his own house.  
The four of them laughed and talked at the tops of their voices throughout the ride and til they reached the Grand Hall, where they reluctantly parted ways. Phil was immediately immersed in conversation with all the other Hufflepuffs. Dan shook his head with a slight smile, marvelling at his friend's ability to make friends with anyone and everyone. He and PJ made their way to the Gryffindor table, and Chris bounded off to the Ravenclaw table. The sorting passed, and Dumbledore gave his standard speech- he stared at PJ as he reminded students that the Forbidden Forest was, in fact, forbidden.  
Dan couldn't help laughing, but stopped as Professor McGonagall stood up and announced that students were required to stay in the dorms of their own houses, glaring at Dan, then sweeping her gaze to the Hufflepuff table and looking at Phil. They both turned a little red, and looked down, suddenly finding their shoes very interesting. They weren't the only students who snuck into each other's dorms for sleepovers, but they definitely did it the most- Phil's dorm mates and Dan were fairly well-acquainted by now. PJ snickered, and Dan stepped on his foot under the table.  
Once the feast appeared though, neither of them could be bothered to continue their bickering. There was a brief silence as everyone ate, before the talking resumed, and Dan, in a better mood, apologised to PJ, and they went back to talking about everything and anything that came to mind. The meal ended and though Dan and PJ had both resolved to stay awake for as long as possible on their first night back, Dan felt a sudden wave of exhaustion rush over him, and PJ covered his mouth to stifle a yawn. The students all trooped off to their dormitories, and Dan and Phil bumped into each other, and only managed to say goodnight before the crowd separated them.  
They went in different directions, but Dan couldn't help but look back, only to find Phil already staring. He went red, and Phil gave him a slightly sheepish smile before turning away.  
And it turned out that Dan stuck to his and PJ's agreement- though he had never felt more tired, he found himself completely and totally unable to fall asleep, Phil's stupid multi-colour eyes and his stupid messy hair and his stupid, stupid smile running around his head. He sighed, and turned over in bed for about the twentieth time that night. It was going to be a long year. 


	2. Chapter 2

Dan wanted to jump into The Great Lake and never come up again. Just when he was beginning to get over Phil's new... everything, Phil had stumbled into Herbology looking dead tired, hair messier than Dan had ever seen it, and worst of all, a pair of glasses Dan had never seen before perched on his nose. PJ, who was sitting next to Dan, turned to see what he was looking.   
"What did I miss?" Phil whispered, sliding into the seat just behind Dan and PJ's.   
"Not much," PJ whispered back, noticing Dan's entirely star-struck expression. "Sprout's been going on about these weird Mandrake things for the past ten minutes, says they're meant to look like freakish little babies or something-"   
"What are those?" Dan blurted out, finally managing to string a sentence together.   
PJ rolled his eyes and turned back to his book.   
Phil frowned and raised his hands to his glasses.   
"Err- what are these?"   
Dan nodded, feeling stupider by the minute.   
"They're... they're glasses, Dan," Phil said slowly- as if he were talking to a very small child, Dan thought. Next to him, PJ snorted, but didn't turn around.   
"I know," Dan said sharply. "I just- when did you start wearing them?"   
"This summer I guess; I was going to wear contacts, but they looked really uncomfortable. I don't really fancy the thought of having to poke myself in the eye every morning, d'you?"   
"N-no." He paused, and then sighed, leaning over to try and smooth Phil's hair down- it was messy enough in the normal way, but looking at it today, Dan couldn't help being strongly reminded of a bird's nest. Apparently his motherly instincts overpowered his gay ones.   
Phil merely swatted him off.   
"So why exactly _do_ you look dead on your feet? I mean come on mate, the day's hardly started."   
"Oh yeah, Ben and I got distracted playing Gobstones..."   
Dan shook his head.   
"It's the first day of school, Phil, you really shouldn't be-"   
"Hey, Howell," PJ cut in. "Grab a pair."   
"Excuse me?"   
PJ shook his head exasperatedly, and thrust a box into Dan's arms. Dan pulled out two pairs of earmuffs and passed the box along, handing Phil one of them. Phil took them with a grin.   
"Well for what it's worth, _mum, _he gave me 12 sickles for winning."   
Dan decided that this simply wasn't worth replying to, and he very pointedly put the earmuffs on, turning away from Phil. The lesson passed surprisingly smoothly, other than when a girl got her earmuffs knocked off by the flailing Mandrake she was holding, and had to be taken to Madam Pomfrey.   
Next was History of Magic, which Dan hated, but it was made slightly more bearable with Phil sitting next to him, as PJ had rushed to sit at the back. Dan was fine in the middle, so long as he was near one of the windows. As Professor Binns droned on about some goblin war that took place centuries ago, he felt his focus drifting away... and was quickly snapped back to reality as Phil poked him in the arm with his quill.   
"Hey," Phil whispered. "Why did my glasses freak you out so much?"   
"They didn't freak me out," Dan muttered. "You just- already look so different, I mean you're taller, and your voice is different, and now this, I don't know."   
"They really look that bad, huh?"   
"Wha- no! You- you look great!" Dan squeaked, forgetting to whisper. Professor Binns either didn't hear him, or he simply couldn't be bothered to stop talking, though many of the students turned around. Dan heard a muffled laugh from the back of the room that sounded suspiciously like PJ's, and his cheeks flamed. He looked down at Phil, and was surprised to see him almost as red as he was.   
"Oh," Phil mumbled. "Thanks."   
Neither of them exchanged a single word for the rest of the lesson, though Dan turned to look at Phil every so often, and twice he caught Phil already looking. 

They didn't have any other classes together until after Lunch, but they did have Defence Against the Dark Arts with Ravenclaw, where PJ was eager to tell Chris about what happened in History of Magic class. Dan had left DADA class feeling as though he would very much like to inflict a Tongue-Tie spell on the two of them. Lunch put him in slightly better spirits, followed by Runes, which was an elective class none of his friends signed up for, which he felt slightly glad of today. (He felt a little less glad when the class received far more homework than was honestly fair, considering it was the first day of the year.) He once again came across He rejoined PJ and Phil at the last lesson of the day, as they had both signed up for the elective class. (Chris had chosen Muggle Studies- they had all protested, Dan even offering to teach him himself, but Chris' parents had wanted him to take it.) Phil had apparently gotten over their awkward exchange earlier, and chattered away quite happily to Dan as he tried to stuff more lettuce down his Flobberworm's throat. (Dan was resolutely not going anywhere near his- it was spitting and snarling in a way that didn't exactly give off a friendly, cutesy vibe.)  
"And Professor Trelawney already gave us homework- have you gotten any yet?"   
"Hmm? Oh yeah, Ancient Runes... what's Divination like?"   
Phil launched into an avid description of Divination, and how creepy it was, and about Professor Trelawney herself, who sounded like a bit of a nutter in Dan's personal opinion.   
He said as much, and Phil hit him lightly on the arm.   
"Don't say that- she's not bad, she's just... very passionate." He crossed his arms. "Like how you are with... Quidditch."   
"What, think you might have a bit of Seer blood in you, Lester?"   
"Not likely- if I did I definitely wouldn't... oh!"   
His Flobberworm had given a violent twitch, and would not eat any more lettuce. Dan frowned and flipped through his textbook.   
"Err, Phil? It says here that Flobberworms can... sort of, well, die- if they eat too much."   
Phil whipped round and stared at his Flobberworm intensely.   
"What? It can't die! I've only just started to feed it and stuff, really..."   
Dan didn't argue, but he privately wondered how Phil hoped to keep any sort of magical creature alive when he couldn't even keep his goldfish alive for longer than three days.   
Phil sighed, and tossed a handful of shredded lettuce into the closure ("In case it gets hungry later!" he implored when Dan rolled his eyes).   
Dan shook his head and wandered off to insult PJ's Flobberworm-keeping skills instead.   
"How was Arithmancy?" PJ muttered absentmindedly.  
"I don't take Arithmancy."   
"Yeah, I don't like the professor much either..."   
He was studying the page on hippogriffs, which he clearly found more interesting than Flobberworms or Dan.   
Dan snorted, and PJ looked up, his expression clearing as he saw Dan.   
"Oh, hi Dan."   
Dan shook his head, and was about to ask PJ if he was sure his Flobberworm was meant to be convulsing like that- upon closer inspection it appeared to be choking on some type of flower Dan didn't recognise- but PJ promptly buried his nose back in the book. Dan scowled, and thoroughly bored, wandered over right to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.   
"What are you doing?"   
Dan whipped around, to see Phil standing much closer than he'd thought.   
"Nothing," he muttered. "I'm bored."   
Phil sighed.   
"Well, my Flobberworm isn't dead-" "Oh, sorry mate" "-but it still won't eat anymore."   
The bell rang shrilly, and they both jumped back, Dan tripping over a tree trunk. Phil instinctively reached for Dan's hand, and pulled him up before he could fall.   
"Oh, thanks-" Dan began, but Phil dropped his hand quickly as though it had burnt him. The two made their way back to the castle for dinner joined by PJ, who had finally closed his book. PJ and Phil's conversation faded to a low hum in Dan's mind as he thought about Phil dropping his hand like that, but could find no voluble explanation.  
Dinner was probably what Dan looked forward to the most in the day, but the excitement of being back at school had worn him out. And when he was tired, his brain seemed to work much slower than usual- PJ had to stop him from pouring pumpkin juice instead of gravy over his roast turkey.   
"How on Earth are you going to survive this Quidditch season," PJ snorted. "I mean, I know you're tired but when practice starts, you're going to be dead on your feet, aren't you?"   
"I'll be fine," Dan mumbled.   
"Yeah, but we don't need you to be _fine, _we need you to be able to stay on your broom for all those moves Phil was just telling me about."   
"What moves?"   
PJ rolled his eyes.   
"Dan, it would be quicker to tell you what Phil told me you couldn't do."   
The fog in Dan's brain cleared a little bit and he jerked up, upsetting the first year boy next him's goblet.   
"You were- oh, sorry Conner- you were talking about me?" He asked incredulously, trying to help clean up the spilt pumpkin juice.   
PJ watched with twisted amusement as one of the Prefects pulled out her wand and cleared up the spilt juice and the stain, sending both Dan and Conner a slight glare. Not that Dan noticed; his attention was fixed solely upon PJ. Finally, PJ turned back to him, a smile still twisting up the corners of his mouth.   
"Yeah, we were talking about you." He sighed. "I can't believe you didn't even notice. Phil just kept going on about how good you are on the broom and how happy you look on the pitch- and I swear he wouldn't stop, so wipe that stupid grin off your face because it was not fun for me.   
Dan stopped smiling, but he turned to stare at the Hufflepuff table. He jumped back, startled- Phil was already staring at him with a look that Dan couldn't quite place. They both flushed and returned their attention back to their food. Dan, however, couldn't help the smile that resurfaced and hoped vehemently that PJ wouldn't notice- but PJ had already moved onto a different topic, and was now lamenting Gryffindor's loss against Ravenclaw last year. Maybe this year would be okay, he thought, not noticing that he had accidentally poured custard over his pasta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!! Thank you so much for all your previous support- I always appreciate kudos and comments, though you obviously don't have to!  
I feel like this chapter was a bit dry, so I'll definitely put more work into the next chapter. Tell me what you guys would like to see, and I'll try and include it if I think it'll work with the storyline I have in mind. Don't be shy, and all suggestions are welcome!  
💜💜💜

**Author's Note:**

> I have edited this, but please point out any mistakes so I can fix them!


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